Prime Minister Barrow meets President-elect of Guatemala

By on November 28, 2015
Prime Minister Barrow meets Jimmy Morales

Prime Minister Barrow meets Jimmy Morales

Belize City, BELIZE. Saturday,November 28, 2015. Prime Minister Dean Barrow today met with the President-elect of Guatemala Jimmy Morales at his Belize City office.

According to a government press release, the meeting was held in “a cordial atmosphere” and both leaders congratulated each other on their recent respective election victories.

The official release says that discussion between Barrow and Morales included bilateral relations between Belize and Guatemala and “a way forward in respect of resolving our historical differences.”

The government release says that both Mr. Barrow and Mr. Morales affirmed their commitment to utilizing the 2005 Framework Agreement and Confidence Building Measures “to strengthen the processes that already exist for good neighborly relations so that the two countries may continue to live in peace and as friends, pending a legal resolution to the territorial dispute.”

Jimmy Morales and Prime Minister Barrow

Jimmy Morales and Prime Minister Barrow

Guatemala has maintained a centuries unfounded claim to over half of Belize’s territory and in the run up to the Presidential election in Guatemala, Morales had campaigned on a promise to pursue that claim.

Prime Minister Barrow has gone on record as saying that Morales has since “walked back” on his campaign rhetoric and during Saturday’s courtesy call, “both sides agreed to make a greater effort to enhance cooperation and understanding at various levels, especially in areas of security, business, trade and investment.”

The government press release concludes by saying that President-elect Morales has invited PRime Minister Barrow to his inauguration in January, 2016. Prime Minister Barrow says that he “has every intention of attending” the Guatemalan Presidential inauguration.

The President-elect of Guatemala was accompanied to the meeting with Prime Minister Barrow by Foreign Minister Carlos Raul Morales; Diplomatic Liaison Officer, Rodrigo Colmenares; Guatemalan Ambassador in Belize, Estuardo Roldan; and Guatemala’s Director of Integration Sandra Hovel.

Prime Minister Barrow had at his side Chief Executive Officer in the The Prime Minister’s Office Audrey Wallace; Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lawrence Sylvester and Belize’s Ambassador to  Guatemala, Alexis Rosado.

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